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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22421581">I will meet you on the other side of death</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordReborn/pseuds/LordReborn'>LordReborn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, But with a happy ending, F/M, Post-Canon, Reincarnation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 17:14:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,524</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22421581</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordReborn/pseuds/LordReborn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Life, death, balance. The Force, everything in between, ebbing through the tides of time. Some people, the Force connects over millennia - ties under different shapes or forms: bonds, dyads, soulmates. At the end everything comes down to one thing: reincarnation.</p><p> </p><p>  <i>“Han had no idea how a two-year-old could have such ancient eyes. It was as if Ben had been waiting around for a millennium to show up at just this moment in history.”</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I will meet you on the other side of death</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I had to get this idea out of my head and explore it because it was just too hard to resist. As that meme goes - I've connected the dots!</p><p>A big thank you to my beta reader freestyle_tears! </p><p>I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>
  <strong>Premise:</strong>
</p><p> </p><p><em>R'iia,</em> a deity worshiped by Teedos on the desert planet Jakku. Angry and unkind, her breath is the cause of a never-ending storm that creates famine and drought.</p><p><br/>
<em>The Consecrated Eremite, </em>an individual who resided on the Plaintive Hand plateau of the desert planet Jakku thousands of years before the Galactic Civil War, during a time that Jakku was supposedly a lush and vegetated place.</p><p> </p><p>And finally, <em>Jakku:</em></p><p><em>“Eons ago, the planet Jakku was once covered with green vegetation and oceans. At some unknown point, the planet was reduced to a barren desert wasteland. About 1,000  standard years </em> <em>before the Battle of Yavin</em> <em>, the Plaintive Hand plateau </em> <em>was the site of an event that was regarded as significant by Emperor Palpatine."</em></p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <strong>1000 BBY</strong>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>From his perch on the sturdy branch of an ancient tree, he sees one of those rare spaceships glide above the forest as they head for the stars. There is that unmistakable roaring of their engines that always makes his skin crawl and he quickly averts his eyes away from the shrinking object.</p><p>He never looks at the sky and wonders what is out there. He doesn’t have to. Everything he needs, it is down here on Jakku. Dreams of adventure, of exploring the unknown, of heading into a large galaxy that he can never hope to see in its entirety, holds none of the appeal like he knows it does for her.</p><p>The bushes below rustle and several small lifeforms skip away from her path. Animals are never really settled around her and he knows well that she is a veritable force of nature. He smiles, knowing what she will say first and foremost so he beats her to it.</p><p>She’s just stepped through and looked up to find him sitting up there, too high and certainly incongruous to everything else around him.</p><p>“Who was that, R’iia?” He asks before she has time to even open her mouth, a reprimand already on her tongue.</p><p>He sees her square her shoulders, as if ready to defend herself, but she doesn’t have to make any excuses in front of him. R’iia seems to finally remember this as well, because she suddenly deflates and starts to wring her hands instead.</p><p>“They called themselves Jedi.” She looks unsettled, hesitant.</p><p>He simply quirks an eyebrow. “What did they want, then?”</p><p>It’s a new experience, to have to pry something out of her. Usually she won’t stop talking, blaming whoever dared disrupt her day.</p><p>He deftly descends from the tree, feeling her critical gaze burning into his back until his bare feet touch the ground. R’iia is still silent, still deliberating with herself and he only reaches out to take her hands, stop them from their nervous tick. Her eyes are the color of the forest that sprawls from one side of this planet to the other, uninterrupted by anything but two large seas.</p><p>He isn’t looking to get an answer out of her. If she wishes to keep it a secret, then so be it. He only wants to remind her that she is not alone, not anymore, so he gently takes a fallen piece of hair and places it behind her ear.</p><p>She sighs and it’s a lovely sound, yet somehow sad. He certainly hopes that it’s not his fault this time.</p><p>“They are servants of this <em>Force</em>.” She says the name with cautious curiosity. He’s never heard of a thing called the Force, but then again, Jakku is not a hub of travelers passing by and imparting stories.</p><p>It is a lonely, emerald gem in the middle of nowhere. They barely see anything obscuring their skies but clouds, but what rare visitors happen to stop by tell stories of whole planets where you can barely see the sky.</p><p>He might not want to judge anyone or anything, but he knows for certain that he never wants to happen on such planet, even for a swift visit.</p><p>“What is this Force, then?”</p><p>She shrugs, uncertain herself, but not entirely clueless.</p><p>“They told me that I’m very strong in the Force.” She amends.</p><p>He understands now, or at least sees it. These Jedi have simply put a name to what he has seen R’iia be and do over the span of so many years.</p><p>The hum he replies with distracts her long enough to offer one unruly smirk and he is inwardly relieved to see a glimpse of the fierce woman he loves. He was afraid that these Jedi had done something to her to coax this strange out of her.</p><p>“And they asked me to come with them. Find out more about this Force.”</p><p>“And why didn’t you go with them?” He asks without a hint of reproach or malice. He is simply curious. “You always wanted to leave Jakku, see the rest of the worlds out there.”</p><p>R’iia huffs and it’s supposed to be scathing, but after so much time spent in her general vicinity, it has lost its edge. Her hands rest on her hips and her mouth puckers, and for a moment he contemplates kissing that pout off.</p><p>“Because I have everything I want right here.”</p><p>He laughs because she fools no one, least of all the one who’s known her since forever.</p><p>“I only wish it were so, my love.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It’s not long until the same spaceship appears again and keeps returning, out of nowhere and without rhythm or rhyme. R’iia never goes to meet them like she did that first time and he isn’t tempted to see these enigmatic Jedi either.</p><p>“Are you sure we shouldn’t warn them about the Teedo living in those mountains they keep landing on?”</p><p>She laughs, sweet and loud and he all but joins her, but the guilt nagging at him stops his amusement short. R’iia purses her lips at his excessive kindness.</p><p>“Let them be.” She all but orders, and he complies after a moment of hesitation. “They are very powerful, these Jedi. I am sure that the Teedo will not be a problem for them at all.”</p><p>He nods even though she’s not looking at him. Her eyes are fixed on the cloudless blue sky and on whatever is beyond it.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The Jedi continue on with their visits. Sometimes they stay days, sometimes only hours. One time they stay at least one week.</p><p>He wonders what this means, for them and for Jakku. This planet has never gotten such attention before. Now it starts to feel stifling, like there is no space to hold them and the constant visitors.</p><p>R’iia seems to feel the same way because she bares her teeth when she sees the spaceship descending from the sky, for what is maybe the second time this month alone.</p><p>She is frustrated, but he’s sure that it’s not because they keep flaunting the possibility of getting out of here in front of her face. R’iia hates people traipsing through what she considers to be <em>her </em>territory.</p><p>In the end, he is strung along when she decides to go face them. He doesn’t have much interest in the Jedi, but R’iia insists and he agrees mainly because even if she may not need protecting, he still wants to protect her. And she might be the better fighter, but he will still fight for her without a second thought.</p><p>The Jedi they meet are slim things, dressed in drab rags and with unkept appearances that makes him scrunch his nose in their direction. He and R’iia might live in a forest, but they never dare go around looking like that.</p><p>The older Jedi smiles through crooked teeth and crosses his arms as a sign of peace, hands resting in his sleeves.</p><p>“R’iia, you brought a friend with you!”</p><p>“This is my partner.” R’iia snaps predictably.</p><p>“Oh, my.” The man looks thoroughly disappointed and he wonders what he’s done wrong besides being the recipient of R’iia’s love. “I see.”</p><p>“What are you still doing here?”</p><p>He lets her do the talking because he’s never been one for long chats with strangers. Besides, she knows these beings better than he does. He’s only ever watched them from a distance and even then, they unsettled him.</p><p>“We have come to love your planet!” The Jedi beams. “And we’ve told our companions about it and many wish to visit.” His expression dims. “I do hope that we have not trespassed over any sacred law.”</p><p>“No,” he finds himself speaking out of the blue. He doesn’t know where this need to reassure the man comes from, but it’s here and it is confusing. He can feel R’iia’s shock reverberating next to him, “as long as you come in peace.”</p><p>The Jedi’s grins will continue to haunt him many days later.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“And what are they doing now?” He drawls, eyes never leaving the irregular form of the wispy clouds floating above the planet today.</p><p>The season is still overly warm, but he can smell a distant storm coming.</p><p>R’iia settles herself better in the plush chair that he singlehandedly bartered for and won, one hand rubbing her pregnant belly.</p><p>They usually stay away from the settlement by the sea’s jagged edge, but he had braved the crowded streets and general hubbub for her, because she insisted on something more comfortable to rest in.</p><p>“They are apparently looking to build a temple.” Her tone is spiteful as she glares at the thick barks encompassing them. She might be unable to move as well as she used to, but what she lacks in action, she makes up with her volcanic temperament.</p><p>He remembers when she told him months ago, in no uncertain terms, that their child is to be a boy, but he still refuses to believe her. He wants to be surprised by it when they are born.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>It is a genuinely curious inquiry from him, because he can find nothing of interest on Jakku beside the poorly developed joke of a space port at the edge of the main settlement.</p><p>R’iia’s eyes are dark and heavy on his as she answers.</p><p>“You will have to ask them.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>He does go to find them, when R’iia declared that she is too tired and retreated inside their home to sleep.</p><p>He braves the thick forest floor and unruly terrain, but it’s a thing he has done a million times before. By the time the sun reaches its apex in the sky and the clouds have darkened to various shades of grey in the north, he finally arrives at the source of the billowing smoke he had noticed wafting through the thick canopy. It’s a careless way to signal every Teedo and their cousins that someone with valuable things they can steal is here.</p><p>A different Jedi greets him, this one much younger.  </p><p>“What brings you out here, traveler?”</p><p>The young man’s smile is just a little too stretched to offer him much hospitality though.</p><p>“Nothing much.” He answers hurriedly, seeing a rather large group of these Jedi camping in the small clearing. Their ship is in the shade of a secular tree and he wonders how they managed to place it there without disrupting the thick branches offering their shade. “I heard rumors that you are looking to build a temple.” When the Jedi keeps silent, he insists. “And I was wondering why you wish to build it here on Jakku.”</p><p>The complacent smile is back again, and the Jedi leans over as if he is about to impart a great secret.</p><p>“It is indeed as you’ve heard! We wish to build a temple here on Jakku.”</p><p>The Jedi did not answer the most important question. “Why?”</p><p>He shifts his weight while the Jedi takes his time to ponder on the answer. He doesn’t understand why he needs to think about it so hard. For him, it is a pretty straightforward matter.</p><p>“We have sensed a great nexus of power in the Force here on this planet. Though we are still looking to locate it.” The Jedi’s eyes suddenly twinkle, and he feels as if he has been poked in place by a sharp spike under his heavy gaze. “Do you happen to know of such place of power? Any <em>rumors</em> you might have heard?”</p><p>He swallows because this man is all of a sudden very dangerous. Outwardly, the Jedi looks calm and civil, but years getting attuned to R’iia’s generous presence in the world around him has granted him a deeper perception of people. The aura of this Jedi is perilous, and something inside of him urges for a quick exit.</p><p>There is only one place he can think of and the moment he speaks of it out loud, to this <em>Jedi</em>, he is overridden with the deepest of guilt.</p><p>“There is a very large clearing to the east.” Anything to get them as far as possible from these people. “It is said that there was a great lake there once, but now there is only nature.”</p><p>The Jedi smiles at him, full of crooked, yellowed teeth and he feels like he’s betrayed R’iia a thousand times over in the last minute. That clearing is one of her favorite places to be and she never hesitates to remind him how tranquil it makes her feel.</p><p>“Thank you, traveler! We shall visit it at once!”</p><p>For the rest of his life, the feeling of the heavy stone in his gut will never quite fade.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“How dare they!”</p><p>Their son cries in tune with R’iia’s shout of frustration.</p><p>He rubs at his eyes, tired and worn out and still feeling like a traitor. He thinks that he will have to start getting used to it soon.</p><p>“Lifting their dirty temple in <em>my</em> place!”</p><p>“Before you destroy the roof again, maybe you should go speak with them.”</p><p>R’iia huffs but nods along and stands up from her beloved chair and deposits their son in his arms.</p><p>“I will just go do that, then.”</p><p>He is momentarily derailed as he finds himself with an armful of a two-month old baby, but he recovers fast enough to not have to jog to catch up with her.</p><p>Her steps are unhurried yet determined, and it’s been a long time since he’s seen R’iia this angry. He walks behind her and follows in her footsteps as an extra precaution because the last thing he wants is to hurt the baby while he struggles to keep up. Their son is blissfully silent now, eyes wide and fixed on the myriad of forms the canopy of leaves above their heads takes, as they leave their safe little house behind and advance into the dense woods.</p><p>The clearing is large enough that the Jedi’s temple does not reach to touch the edge of the forest, yet it still sprawls wide and tall, an unnatural beast made of stone in the middle of proper nature.</p><p>Amid the hubbub of construction for the last of the towers, one old woman exits the group and comes to meet them near the outer edge of the clearing.</p><p>He swallows back his frustration at the intruding slab of rock, and he tries so very hard not to promptly hate every Jedi he lays eyes on. At his side, R’iia has none of these concerns.</p><p>“How dare you build something here?” Her finger is pointed accusingly to the Jedi.</p><p>The old woman smiles blandly, and he wonders if she thinks that her gesture should feel friendly to them. Because it feels anything but.</p><p>“This place is a powerful nexus in the Force, my dear. For generations, we have searched for places like these.” Her milky eyes shift to the boy cooing in his arms and her smile doubles. “This young one may yet have a spot where he can come to understand his place in all of this.”</p><p>“All of this?” He prompts because her facial expression is sinister without her cryptic words added to the mix.</p><p>She turns to him, a dead eyed stare. “Life, dear.”</p><p>He casts a helpless look to R’iia, but she is dreadfully silent.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Fuming, that’s what R’iia does best, but nowadays she is like a roaring fire. Her eyes burn even him.</p><p>He knows that it cannot continue this way.</p><p>“Are you sure that you don’t even want to try?”</p><p>She snips before he can even finish his question. “No!”</p><p>He glances back down as his son comes toddling out of a bush with tall flowers. He has picked one up, a red one whose large petals droop until they almost touch his hair.</p><p>“Dada, look!”</p><p>“I’m looking.” A grin teases at the edge of his lips, but when he turns his head to tell R’iia to look, he finds her already studying their son attentively.</p><p>There is something in her eyes and he hates it.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Their son is six when R’iia finally wins. He’s kept up the battle long enough, but in the end, it was obvious that she will win. She always does. He never tries to win anyways, not really, but this time it is their son’s life at stake here.</p><p>She decided that their son should go learn this Force that the Jedi preach so much about. They have declared him as strong as his mother, maybe stronger.</p><p>He absently follows the curving path of a scared rabbit as it runs away from their son’s grabby hands. They are dreadfully silent, R’iia and him. He has nothing to say to her until this is over – he has already said everything he wanted to.</p><p>She’s made her thoughts transparent as well, so she has nothing to say that is not an apology and R’iia never really does apologies.</p><p>The same unusual Jedi greet them and take their son away from them, from <em>him</em>. He might be crying, but R’iia simply looks on, an indecipherable, dull light in her gaze.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>They always visit – no matter the weather or the obstacles standing in their way. They walk the well beaten path to the Jedi’s temple everyday and everyday he sees their son grow up little by little.</p><p>He is happy in that place, and this brings him as much joy as it brings him grief. Maybe this really is the way this Force wills things to be.</p><p>It’s over six years later when their son returns from an adventure on another planet and he cannot believe his ears as he listens to his excited descriptions of everything he has seen there.</p><p>He finds that he most enjoys the time he spends with their son, hearing of his adventures, hearing of what beings and creatures this still young child has encountered. These are things that he will never get to see but is content enough to experience them through their wide eyed, innocent son who loves the world with all of his heart.</p><p>The Jedi seem to love him as much as he loves them, which serves to somewhat settle his heart for a bit. R’iia smiles more these days and her beauty radiates in the way her face lights up that brings forth a whole other kind of joy to him. He keeps falling in love with her, over and over again.</p><p>The planet settles in its short rainy season, but his heart is too full of joy to keep the tradition out of so many that construct Jakku’s culture. He cannot repent so that the rain can wash away all his sins because he feels fearless enough to think that there might be no sin to wash away.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p><em>"The Fourth Great Schism was a pivotal split </em> <em>among the ranks of the Jedi Order</em> <em>. […]</em> <em> Jedi </em> <em>chose to follow in Ruin's footsteps, leaving the Jedi Order in favor of his growing Sith empire</em> <em>. These events gave rise to the New Sith</em> <em>, initiating a </em> <em>thousand-year-l</em> <em>ong crusade—the </em> <em>New Sith Wars</em> <em>—against the </em> <em>Galactic Republic</em> <em> and the Jedi.”</em></p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Years upon years later, life does not hesitate to take from them.</p><p>It happens abruptly. He doesn’t know what to even name it.</p><p>One night, a full week into the warm season, they are sleeping peacefully until death and destruction wakes them up.</p><p>R’iia sits up with a scream of agony and he opens his eyes to see her panting and sweating in the dry night. He dares a look outside the window and sees a column of grey rising through the pitch-black night. And it is coming from the direction of the Jedi’s temple.</p><p>They run through the dark woods, R’iia keeping a trembling yet steady grip on his forearm as she uses her connection with the Force to find the safest, fastest path for them. Her hand is sweating, but he is not faring any better. He does not know what she dreamt of, but it spurned her into action the second he announced the smoke. With a sinking heart, he realizes that it must have been about the temple.</p><p>His heart all but stops when they break through the trees and see the damage done. The fire has engulfed half of the building already and two of the towers have crumbled to the ground, with a third one on the way.</p><p>But the Jedi do not seem to care about that. They are too preoccupied as they fight with each other to notice the destruction they inflict around them.</p><p>He studies the swords made of light that they handle, and a suffocating fear engulfs him, because those weapons are lethal. The countless bodies on the ground attest to that.</p><p>R’iia gasps and his eyes settle on a figure emerging from the back of the collapsing building. It is their son and his heart soars because he is indeed alright. But when he tries to run up there, R’iia stops him with an outstretched arm. There is a frightening look on her face that has no place on it, and every muscle in his body seizes because of that.</p><p>She seems undecided, tilting between being scared and being devastated. She calls to their son, but the child does not respond, he only keeps walking towards them. It is a sedate, predatory pace that makes his skin crawl and reminds him of the biggest of predators, with nests deep inside Jakku’s densest forest.</p><p>He has a light weapon in his hand, turned on and casting his legs in a ruby glow that is too much like the blood spattered on his Jedi robes. He continues watching their child, trying to pacify the image he knows with the image before him, but the matter eludes him. He cannot understand how this happened. He resolves that R’iia has to know but when he turns in her direction, her eyes are wide, and she is trembling uncontrollably. Her mouth opens and closes but no sound comes out.</p><p>Their son is well within reach now and he tries to talk with him again, but the child snarls and his eyes flash crimson red. In a moment of clarity, he realizes that this is not their son anymore. This creature is something else, something living and thriving in the darkness.</p><p>He is pacing backwards out of reflex when their son launches forward, the red sword swung above his head, so that the red light finally illuminates a young face that was once so full of love and now is filled only with hate.</p><p>He hears R’iia’s raw yell and sees her extend an arm, but he knows that the light blade cannot be stopped without holding one of its own against it. Yet R’iia does not need a weapon. In her sheer moment of terror, she calls on the Force and it pushes their son back, too far back, too fast.</p><p>He looks on, powerless against these fast-paced events, as their child hits the crumbled side of one tower and crumbles to the ground. Their son leaves in his wake a smear of blood that stops his heart, maybe for good.</p><p>R’iia falls to her knees with a grief-stricken cry, and her hand covers her mouth and stifles the heart rendering sound of her wails.</p><p>He stands, staring at the scene and at the smear of blood because his mind cannot comprehend them.</p><p>The ground under his feet starts shaking and only then does he turn his head towards R’iia. She is still on the ground, but she is aglow, and the Force is swirling around her in tumultuous waves. He extends a hand, her name on his lips but the light takes her away and the world explodes to nothingness.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The fall of Jakku is not gradual. It happens in one night, in one fated place.</p><p>He watches the trees, the animals and the sky itself rip apart.</p><p>The earth shatters and overturns. The seas overflow, cleansing everything they can find in their path. Every living creature crumble and dies, all the luscious plants decay to dust.</p><p>He waits for the mercy of death, awaits it with bated breath and a prayer in his soul. Through a third eye, he sees the settlement swallowed by the ground, sees the last remains of the Jedi’s temple fall as well. Only the mountains remain, though they are only a husk of what they once were, barren and isolated.</p><p>The Teedo survive against all odds, having taken refuge in the very mountains they have inhabited for generations. They live on, despite the heavy loses they have suffered. They have lost their planet and their homes in one fell swoop of the Force.</p><p>He closes his eyes, though he is unsure if they weren’t already closed. He waits patiently, watching more and more of the planet dissolve under R’iia’s scorching touch and wishing that she would kill him too already. He cannot stand another minute of a world where his son and his love aren’t there anymore.</p><p>But death does not come. Light does, in a shattering display of intensity. It burns through him and he opens his eyes to a complete wasteland. Jakku may very well be another planet in this moment.</p><p>Anywhere he looks, there is nothing but smooth sand that burns his feet as he walks nowhere. The jagged horizon touches the sky that is a blue so lifeless it is almost white. He sees the sun, but it’s too bright and too violent in its intensity. It’s not the sun he knows.</p><p>And neither is this the Jakku he knows. Somehow, he understands that nowhere else on this husk of a planet will he find something that isn’t already in this valley.</p><p>R’iia is gone, but he knows that she will be back. Furious and beautiful and deadly.</p><p>The Teedo will be coming as well, to explore this new planet and take what they can to survive. It is unfortunate that he has nothing to offer them.</p><p>He settles at the lowest point of this new valley that R’iia created, he thinks, for him. He sits down in the place of his son’s final death. He stays, embraces his pain and lives the scrap of life that R’iia left for him in quiet suffering.</p><p>Ultimately, Jakku gives and Jakku takes.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>"Han had no idea how a two-year-old could have such ancient eyes. It was as if Ben had been waiting around for a millennium to show up at just this moment in history.”</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>34 ABY - 35 ABY</strong>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Kylo Ren watches the line of her jaw settle and when she opens her eyes, they are a million colors and one.</p><p>Something deep inside his anguished soul jerks and the realization comes unbidden that he knows her. He’s known her all his life and maybe beyond that. He barely had time to realize it back in that interrogation room, so much was he taken aback by the power she displayed.</p><p>He offers her the dark side, yet that piece of him instantly recoils at the very thought. So, he overpowers it with deft and logic and it shuts up before he can think to remember it later.</p><p>The scavenger girl from Jakku is a force of nature, he thinks, as she paces around the small clearing with her teeth bared. His grandfather’s lightsaber purrs steadily in her hand and when she attacks, it’s with the force of a thousand hurricanes behind it. She knocks him down and brands him and his soul cries out to her.</p><p>And yet Kylo does not understand <em>why</em>.</p><p>She leaves him there to die and yet he lives on and he sees her again.</p><p>Again and again.</p><p>At some point, he wonders whether there is something deep inside of her that tries to bring her to her knees when he sees him, like it does to him.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>One year later, a man who is more Ben Solo than Kylo Ren by that point, finds her in the ruins of a weapon that almost killed trillions.</p><p>Rey bares her teeth at him again and attacks, with the force of a thousand lightning storms behind her. He has seen her darkness and he understands, the way she tethers on the edge, dripping wet and feral as she looks now.</p><p>That familiar feeling returns, unbidden, and this time Ben knows what he needs to do. Because if he will do one thing right, it will be to stop her from being engulfed by that merciless darkness he has suffered under all his life.</p><p>The Force, or maybe that strange part of his soul, whispers of tales untold, of planets that will fall if he lets Rey be consumed by the dark side. At this point, it isn’t even a question to Ben.</p><p>He will stop her.</p><p>The Force demands balance.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Much later, he gets to hear the whole story. By the end, while his mind is still reeling, something inside of him keeps whispering. Ben stumbles over words and feelings that are not his and yet they do indeed belong to him.</p><p>It’s a strange, demanding presence that continues to elude him. Rey seems to hold the vaguest idea of what he is talking about, but this discussion is tabled because they finally land on Jakku.</p><p>Ben hates it the second the gangplank opens to admit the arid air, but Rey demanded one last look at her childhood home and the place of her torment.</p><p>“I hope the Teedo haven’t scavenged it all already.” She grumbles as they walk the short distance from the Falcon to the fallen AT-AT. “Though if they didn’t, someone else must have.”</p><p>Her words are deflated, resigned. Ben reaches out and rubs the back of her neck, tries to offer reassurance and strength. She is tense like a coil, ready to leap into action at any moment.</p><p>Rey leans into his touch and he smiles and looks over the horizon of sand and dust. Nothing for thousands of clicks.</p><p>“There is nothing but dust here.” His statement falls flat.</p><p>Rey does not answer him, too preoccupied with inspecting what remains of her former home. Ben would lie if he says that his heart does not constrict at the sight of the overly small, rusted thing she calls ‘back home’ with such romantic nostalgia.</p><p>Her examinations are punctuated by intermittent exclamations of disappointed, but Ben lets her finish in peace. He waits patiently by the side of the AT-AT. At some point, he thinks that he spots a Teedo riding some kind of animal in the distance and it’s the first interesting thing to happen since landing on Jakku.</p><p>“There’s not only dust.” Rey’s words startle him. He looks around to see her walking up to stand next to him. Her cheeks are flushed from the effort of finding something worthwhile to come back, yet she is let down once again. She crosses her arms and Ben lets her continue, interested in what she has to say.</p><p>“That way is the Niima Outpost, the biggest settlement.”</p><p>Ben subtly rolls his eyes. He heard what amazing settlement it was.</p><p>“And out there are the Goazon Badlands with the Pilgrim’s Road where the Sitter is.”</p><p>“The Sitter?” Ben quirks an eyebrow despite himself.</p><p>Rey grins. “A Force monk.”</p><p>“Ah, one of <em>those.</em>”</p><p>Rey snickers. She grabs his elbow and rests her head on his arm.</p><p>“And then there’s X’us’R’iia. The name of awful, merciless sandstorms.”</p><p>“Sounds amazing.” Ben says dryly and coughs as he inhales more dust than his poor lungs can handle.</p><p>He feels Rey’s amusement through their bond, and he reaches to physically pinch her in return. She yelps and skids away, her attention caught by something.</p><p>Ben takes a moment to study the setting sun on the empty horizon and exhales long and slow. These valleys whisper and the sand dunes wail under the passing breeze. It’s a sad story and Ben unfortunately has had enough of those.</p><p>He is ready to leave this place behind.</p><p>
  <em>R’iia.</em>
</p><p>“Rey,” She looks up at the sound of her name and discards the rusted piece of AT-AT plating she found, “let’s go.”</p><p>It is a story from a thousand years ago, yet it still continues today.</p><p>Because the Force demands balance and until it is restored, life will not bloom again.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a>
    R'iia
  </a>
  <br/>
  <a>
    Teedo
  </a>
  <br/>
  <a>
    Consecrated Eremite
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  <br/>
  <a>
    Anchorite sect
  </a>
  <br/>
  <a>
    Fourth Great Schism
  </a>
</p><p> </p><p>Thanks for reading!<br/>Comments are loved!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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